SD video detail enhancer solution?

[hajes29a]

it makes wonder if someone finally made a SW/filters that can enhance/re-render details in old SD analog footages. I do not look about upscaling solutions such as famous Topaz Video Enhance AI.

With dawn of GPU processing, one wonders if someone managed some algorithm that can guess/re-render/improve detail.

I guess it is a wild dream, after all one cannot recreate what is not there. Just wondering loudly.

[lordsmurf]

Avisynth does all of that quite well.

It's just not easy (made for simpletons), using a GUI that a golden retriever can operate. It takes reading and effort. Avisynth is such a bottomless pit of options that no single GUI could exist.

That said, selur has made some great advanced options in Hybrid.

[hajes29a]

I recall in photography some old tricks for upscaling, and improving detail. Solution was something like 10x upscale/sharpen/USM in small steps with Lanczos algo.

[themaster1]

Over the years i found out i can be pretty easy (so to speak) as far as colors (assuming decent source to begin with, like retail vhs) . First you work on your levels, then your primaries (RGB) then secondary colours (cyan-yellow-magenta). Working on the secondary colors is the real challenge imo. Requires finesse and eagle eye, multi testing, then eventually, your video will be next-level.

A good tool for that can be gradations curves and in complement RGBEQ (work with hues aswell, very handy), both vdub filters. In The same vein, you'll need RGB histogram and of course CYMK histogram (there is one for avisynth) or traditional YCrCb histo !

[hajes29a]

I don't do 1% tuning anymore ;-) most don't care, and if I am not happy 5y later. I pull out original, and reprocess.

I have captured again all our bike footages from 2001-2005. Back then i could afford consumer Panasonic VCR (250$ back then). My friend had crap Canon camera with composite output.

Nowadays, I used the best available without real TBC...footage is almost identical. Most cannot say difference.

From time to time, I do some hue corrections. Denoise is done by HW, and it is on same level as cnr2/smdegrain.

Light NLM denoise + deint...done. You can play 20-100h with footage for 1% gain. I have life ;-)

[lordsmurf]

Quote:

Originally Posted by hajes29a

I don't do 1% tuning anymore
You can play 20-100h with footage for 1% gain. I have life ;-)

I don't either, and never really did. My to-do list is too long to waste hours per footage second.

The most anal I ever got with NR and correction was when I worked for studios. But ever studios don't make you 1% correct, contrary to what some people probably think. That last nth% only matters with color matching, but even that has limits.

I have gotten detailed on some truly rare videos, or some short (10-minute) personal videos. But nothing else.

I do most color correction in VirtualDub (basic), or Premiere CS4 or Final Cut Pro (advanced) .

Quote:

Nowadays, I used the best available without real TBC...footage is almost identical. Most cannot say difference.

"real" or "any"?
- Because without "real" TBC generally means some form of TBC(ish) something, which can suffice if certain conditions are met. Very case by case.
- But without "any" is another matter entirely, sample clips required for such a bold statement.

[hajes29a]

I didn't know there was TBC until I joined this forum ROFL

I bought VCR I could afford in 2000, and ATI All-in-Wonder back then. It worked without dropping frames. Usual issue was audio/video sync. I have "fixed" that by slowing/speeding up audio....nobody noticed that it was sometimes off.

We were happy with own video production. Back then, it was considered a pinnacle of quality ) Of course, now everybody whines because we get crystal clear 4k progressive footages that monkey can process ;-)

JVC 9600 S-VHS has got some kind of TBC, and Grass Valley Intensity Pro refused to capture it. I guess unstable analog signal. Hooking up DVDR resolved the issue.

[lordsmurf]

Quote:

Originally Posted by hajes29a

I didn't know there was TBC until I joined this forum ROFL
I bought VCR I could afford in 2000, and ATI All-in-Wonder back then.

Which model was that? The good Radeons with Theatre chips did not exist until 2001. There were a few beta-quality 128 Pro cards with Theatre. But the other AIW were all low-end BT8x8 chips.

Quote:

It worked without dropping frames.
Usual issue was audio/video sync.

No, if you had sync issues, you were dropping frames.

Quote:

We were happy with own video production. Back then, it was considered a pinnacle of quality ) Of course, now everybody whines because we get crystal clear 4k progressive footages that monkey can process

People mostly whine about costs, thinking analog video hardware should be the price of a month of Netflix, "because it's all just video". Ignorance. There is a huge middle ground between bad captures and 4K. That is where I exist, as do many others.

Quote:

JVC 9600 S-VHS has got some kind of TBC, and Grass Valley Intensity Pro refused to capture it. I guess unstable analog signal. Hooking up DVDR resolved the issue.

JVC 9600 has line TBC.

Grass Valley or Blackmagic. If BM, the issues capturing SD are a known problem.

Line TBC cleans the images, frame TBC cleans the signal. You need both. Certain DVD recorders (almost all certain Panasonics, like ES10/15) have strong+crippled line TBC with non-TBC frame sync. The non-TBC frame sync forces through "more stable" (not truly stable) video, though with loss and compromise. But it can be enough to appease capture cards. There are lots of variables that determine if these TBC(ish) methods are allowed for projects or scenarios, and there is a fail rate (tapes still refusing to cooperate).

[hajes29a]

It was something with BT8x8 chip...always problem, but there was not much choice in east block. I first found Doom9 back then. Nobody talked about TBC. We just did what we knew was good. That is why I keep originals because there is always new tech.

Just few years ago I used "tdein", nowadays QTsomething looks even better. Maybe one day, there will be something that can do even better